1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a mining elevator, which is especially suitable for lifting of materials mined underground and workers in mines.
2. Description of the Related Art
The workers and materials are mainly lifted and lowered by means of elevator and cage during the underground mining process in mines. However, for the underground mining at multiple-level working faces, in particular for lifting and lowering of materials and workers with the lifting height of less than 400 meters, the use of conventional elevators will lead to high cost and long construction cycle; in addition, when workers are lifted/lowered by means of an elevator, the occupants in the cage are unable to control the lifting/lowering process and are unable to transfer information to the well top or well bottom, and therefore cannot contact with the person at the well top or the well bottom in case that any emergency happens during the transport process; moreover, since the winch has a large structure and low mechanical efficiency, if the winch malfunctions during the operating process, the cage lacks an effective over-speed control; furthermore, lifting/lowering of elevator with cage causes poor ride comfort.
Though existing elevator systems provide better ride comfort, are suitable for working in multiple level working faces, and require low maintenance cost, the traction machine, control cabinet, and control box in the elevator car of existing ordinary industrial elevators can not meet the requirements of the harsh operating environments in mines, because explosive mixed gasses (methane, coal gas, etc.) and corrosive gasses exist in such environments; the rigid guide rails of existing ordinary industrial elevators cannot meet the requirements for lifting in mine wells, because the well shafts are apt to deform under huge side pressure; because the connecting devices of traction ropes employ compression spring and rubber material, which achieve buffering and vibration damping effects, but also may cause unbalanced tension of traction ropes after they are used over a period of time owing to the manufacturing error of traction ropes and the difference of materials; the existing safety clamp system can only be used in rigid guide rails for over-speed runaway safeguard, and there is no safety braking system for elevator cars of non-rigid guide rails up to now; though existing elevator cars can meet the demand for lifting of person and ordinary goods, and accomplish safe, reliable and comfortable lifting, they do not have the loading capability of mobile cars (e.g., mine cars) and therefore cannot be used for lifting in mines, because they do not have supporting device and car arrester. In summary, there are at least the following problems in the prior art:
1) For mining at multiple level working faces in mines, existing elevators have problems of high cost and long construction cycle;
2) The traction and control system of ordinary industrial elevators cannot meet the requirement for use in environments in mines where explosive and corrosive gases exist;
3) The rigid guide rails of existing elevators cannot meet the requirement for use in harsh conditions in mine wells where the shaft is apt to deform;
4) The connecting devices of traction ropes that employ compression spring and rubber material may cause unbalanced tension;
5) There is no safety protection system for elevator car of non-rigid guide rails;
6) There is no composite elevator car system for workers and cars which mine car can enter into and be lifted.